The present invention relates to cable or wire reels, and in particular to a reel for the storage, transportation and protection of cable and associated connectors, for example, electrical or communication cable, and in particular, for the storage, transportation and protection of fiber optic communication cable.
Electrical or communication cable has customarily been wound on cable reels comprising a cylindrical drum having flanges on opposite ends of the drum. According to one design, for the storage and transportation of electrical or 16 communication cable, the reel comprises a central drum portion having a single flange at one end of the drum portion and at the other end of the drum portion, a double flange comprising an inner and an outer flange portion having a number of axially extending connecting dowels disposed between the inner and outer flange portions of the double flange. The inner flange portion of the double flange is slotted and thus split into two sections, so that the cable can be fed through the slot and the cable end connectors disposed in the volume between the two flange portions. The two flange portions thus protect the end connectors of the cable from damage when the ends are located in the volume therebetween, and the connecting dowels between the two flange portions serve to retain the cable end connectors within this volume.
Typically, the cable wound on the above described known cable reels has been of the metallic conductor type, generally copper or aluminum. For the storage and transportation of copper cable, the cable reels utilized in the past have been relatively heavy, due to the great weight of copper cable. Furthermore, the provision of a double flange at one end of the cylindrical drum of the known cable reels is inefficient, since for the most part the volume contained within the two flange portions is wasted space and the connectors are exposed to the external environment.
With the advent of fiber optic communications cable, which cable is approximately one-sixth the weight of copper cable and at the same time can transmit many times the number of messages, it is unnecessary to provide the same heavy massive reels utilized for the storage of copper cable. Indeed, with the need for high speed air deployment of communication equipment today, the weight factor of a fiber optic cable reel should be more compatible with the light weight of the fiber optic cable itself. Furthermore, it seems unnecessary to provide a double flange at one end of the cable reel simply for the storage of the cable end connectors fastened to the ends of the cable. It is important that the cable end connectors be accessible, however, because it is often necessary in the field that a particular section of cable wound on a cable reel be tested for continuity prior to laying the cable out to form a communications line. Thus, any practical cable reel, especially a fiber optic cable reel, must not only provide protection for the connector ends of the cable, but must also allow those connector ends to be accessible while the cable is wound on the reel for continuity testing purposes.